Meera Nanda

After training as a microbiologist (PhD, Biotechnology, IIT-Delhi, India) and following a stint as a science correspondent for the The Indian Express in New Delhi, I turned to history and the philosophy of science (Indiana University, USA) and later to science studies (PhD, Science and Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA, 2000).

Since 2009, I have been a Visiting Professor of the history of science at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Mohali, India, prior to which I received numerous research fellowships.

I am currently interested in the cultural history of science in India, from its early beginnings to the present. During my stay at MPIWG, I hope to work on my new book project, which critically examines the various strategies for harmonization (or "hybridization," to use a postcolonial term) of scientific theories (from Copernican astronomy and Darwin’s theory of evolution to quantum physics) with spiritualist-idealist strains of Hinduism. My objective is to show how this kind of hybridization covers up contradictions and turns modern science into a source of legitimation for Hinduism and Hindu nationalism.